(BY: ATTY. BATAS MAURICIO) LIFE’S INSPIRATIONS: “As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him privately. `Tell us,’ they said, `when will this happen, and what will be the sign of your coming and of the end of the age?’ Jesus answered…`There will be… earthquakes in various places’…” (Matthew 24:3, 4, 7, the Holy Bible).

-ooo-

MAGNITUDE 4 QUAKE HITS METRO, RAISES FEARS OF THE BIG TEMBLOR ANEW:We should all be thankful that the earthquake that shook Metro Manila in the early morning hours of Sunday, January 11, 2015, was just a mild temblor which was scarcely felt by sleeping residents. But, significantly, it prompted a news agency to repost a story which it first published in July 2014 about what would happen if Metro Manila is hit by a magnitude 7.2 earthquake.

That story warned that some 34,000 people will be killed and that 40% of all buildings in the entire National Capital Region will be destroyed, if a magnitude 7 earthquake strikes. Quoting experts, the same report also warned that this kind of an earthquake is due to hit Metro Manila real soon.

-ooo-

GOV’T IGNORED OFFER OF QUAKE ASSISTANCE? Those warnings notwithstanding, what really caught my attention was one comment to the story made by one Edgard Ed Guevarra, of Geo Farm Philippines, Bgy. Mangayao, Bayambang, Pangasinan, who gave the following as his contact details: +63917 988 3174 and edgardguevarra777@yahoo.com.

Guevarra, obviously in exasperation, said: “After the drill… we will need another 700 steps to be safe out of the danger zone and be able to recover… I’m willing to share my Rescue and Survival Village Project (RSVP) which I will present in Bangkok this September and Japan on February 2015, in the International Disaster Resilience Forum. I had been trying since 20 years here in the Philippines (to share this project too) but nobody seems to care.”

My question here is: is this true? Has the Philippine government, during the past 20 years, really ignored Guevarra’s efforts to introduce a project that will help Metro Manilans weather the death and devastation coming from a big earthquake? Could it be because officials during the last 20 years did not see an opportunity to profit from the project?

Well, God forbid, but the blood of Filipinos who will die from the big earthquake and from the mayhem and confusion that will follow will surely be in the hands of all these officials, and may God forgive them for their refusal to even just consider Guevarra’s proposal.

-ooo-

WITH RA 9262, DAYS OF “MARTYR WIVES” OVER: Susan A. is an old-fashioned “martyr” kind of a Filipina wife. Battered physically and emotionally by her husband almost everyday, Susan A. is asking if she can do something to stop the abuse she had been receiving for the last 10 years or so of her marriage with her abusive husband. The answer is, of course, yes, because she can send her husband to a 20-year term if she wants to.

With Republic Act 9262, or the Anti-Violence Against Women and Children Act of 2004, Susan A. and wives like her can now expect immediate assistance against their violence-prone husbands, all the way from the barangay to our courts. This law is now a powerful tool that abused women can use against the men in their lives, whether they are married to them or not.